Clams in White Wine

Where liberty dwells, there is my country. - Benjamin Franklin The rattle of cars across the gravel of the courtyard below floats through the windows on the breeze like the distant roar of ocean waves. The shade washes over me, soothing, cooling, the shutters pulled closed against the searing heat. Voices on the street, the distant ...

Renovations

Monday, May 8, 2017 4 , , Permalink 0

An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision. - James Whistler Suddenly it's light at 6:30 am when I skitter out, arms wrapped around myself to ward off the chill, tiptoeing so as not to make too much noise as I crunch across the gravel, to open the front gate of the ...

Loss

Friday, April 7, 2017 8 , Permalink 1

It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone. - John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent I met Stephen in Nigeria in 1986. He was a Fulbright professor lecturing in English and creative writing at the University of Ife, in Ile-Ife. I was visiting a ...

Favorite Lemon Tart with Mascarpone Whipped Cream

Monday, March 20, 2017 10 , , , , Permalink 0

All human plans subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe. - Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two Spring had sprung, or so we thought. Gentle sunshine, mild afternoons, the temperature inching upwards and memories of laundry flapping in the fresh air come flooding ...

This Just Happened

Wednesday, March 8, 2017 20 , Permalink 2

  De toutes les passions, la seule vraiment respectable me paraît être la gourmandise. - Guy de Maupassant “Okay, your turn,” they said, and a dozen pair of eyes slid in my direction. “Tell us about yourself.” I have never been comfortable talking about myself, but here I was, the center of attention, albeit for just a ...